News / Brouwerij Fort Lapin-‘t Koelschip barrel-aged Quad, and more

Brouwerij Fort Lapin-‘t Koelschip barrel-aged Quad, and more

Chuck Cook

December 17, 2013

Barrel-aging continues to be all the rage in the beer world, and there are a lot of such projects going on in Belgium right now. A new one involves Brouwerij Fort Lapin of Brugge (Bruges) which just opened in 2012. Brewer Kristof Vandenbussche has teamed up with Ive Mostrey of ‘t Koelschip (“The Coolship”) which is Ostende’s premier beer shop, to brew a Quadrupel which will be aged in Filliers jenever casks. The name? Harlekijn Single Cask.

Note that Fort Lapin already has a Quadrupel, but this one is a new recipe.

Ive Mostrey in front of his ‘t Koelschip beer shop in Ostende.

It will be finished with a champagne yeast. This is going to be a big beer, clocking in at around 12% abv. “We did the initial fermentation in the tanks at Fort Lapin. Soon, the beer will be transferred to Filliers jenever barrels made of oak, to age for six months. We will add champagne yeast in the barrels and at bottling,” Ive Mostrey told me today. “We are calling it single cask, as every barrel will be filled right from the cask. There will be no blending with other barrels. Each of the three barrels hold between 184 and 193 liters of beer.” Mostrey, who is also known as “De Bierpromotor,” added.

A Filliers jenever barrel that will soon be filled with the Harlekijn Single Cask Quadrupel from Ft. Lapin and ‘t Koelschip.

Kristof Vandenbussche, brewer/owner, Brouwerij Fort Lapin.

Harlekijn Single Cask is brewed with Target and Goldings hops, and three kinds of barley malt.

Mostrey also remarked: “It’s my project, and in future, I will do this more of these with other small brewers. Also, it is important that I am there for every brew. All will be made together with me as a student brewer!”

The tasting room at Ft. Lapin.

Fort Lapin brewer/owner Kristof Vandenbussche had this to say about his brewery: “My latest beer is called Fort Lapin 6 Hibiscus. It’s a dubbel-type of beer, with 6% alcohol, and the hibiscus (flower) gives it extra color and a light-sour taste. It’s new since a few months, but it is sold out as soon as it is ready. For the moment, it is a problem to meet the demand for all my beers. On Friday, the quad will come out of the warm chamber, and everything is sold out already. I promised Ive that I would brew a beer for him so I had to make time. Next time you visit, I can show you that a lot of things have changed in the brewery. Since 2 weeks we have a full automatic bottling line, so we don’t have to fill the bottles by hand anymore.”

I like the sound of that hibiscus beer! See photo, below: